I beamed at him, and he gave me a rare, bashful smile.
“You might enjoy it,” I said, though I had very little hope for that.
He gave something of a cross between a loud sigh and a dramatic grunt and stood up.
“Leaving?” he asked.
That eveningI tried distracting myself by watching one of the reality dating shows on my streaming app when Colin’s name appeared on my phone.
I hesitated, my finger hovering over the green circle on the screen.
Finally, I answered. “Hello?”
“Hello, beautiful,” he said, his low, rich voice hitting me like a wall of flames. I tried not to melt, knowing he had lied to me. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve had you on my mind all day. I wanted to come downstairs to visit you, but there was always something preventing me.”
“I had a nice time last night,” I said truthfully.
“I had awonderfultime. I’d like to see you again.” He said the last part as if it were a question.
My throat went dry. There was no question about it—if he hadn’t lied about who’d been calling him last night, I’d have said yes right then in a heartbeat.
But…this doubt.
It didn’t feel good. I should have just confronted him at that moment, called him out for lying about it being someone from the board of directors instead of Maggie.
He spoke first. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I truly was conflicted, remembering how I’d felt so special as he watched my every move, how he’d looked so jaw-droppingly handsome, and how charming he was outside of his usual work persona.
“If you’re not sure, then you definitely need a second date. You can’t say no to an ‘I don’t know.’ You need to be certain when you tell me no.”
I laughed at this logic and said, “I don’t know,” again.
“You’re proving my point. Kate, I’d really like to sway you to a definite yes for next time, but that can only happen if you let me take you out this weekend.”
Suddenly, a yes was inevitable. I’d imagined he’d try to take me out in the next couple of days, but for some reason, the idea of waiting five days until the weekend seemed like a lifetime. I wanted to self-flagellate for being so weak.
“Yes,” I said, shutting my eyes tight as if waiting for lightning to strike me or the floor underneath to open up like a trapdoor.
Nothing so dramatic happened.
“Thank you. You’ll have a good time. I’m positive. I’ll be out of town for the next few days, but I’ll pick you up on Saturday at 5 o’clock. Does that work?”
“Yes,” I said, my eyes wide open now as I giddily paced my bedroom. I glanced at myself in the mirror as I passed it, my grin reflecting back at me.
I stuck my tongue out at myself.
We hung up a few moments later, just after he called me beautiful again and said he couldn’t wait. I told myself this wasn’t about romance—it was aboutinformation. If something bad were going on with Maggie, then I had to help her. Like Grant and Kaitlin, I was following a lead.
That’s all this was.
Right?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Things were starting to get murky.
Maggie had always seemed strong and competent. I couldn’t picture her tangled up with a jealous boyfriend, the kind Grant described. But he had heard it himself at the restaurant. Maybe she didn’t realize what kind of man she was dealing with.
